conworldfandomcom-20200222-history
Sixth Great Awakening
The Sixth Great Awakening was a major Christian religious awakening movement that spanned the globe, and saw the rebirth of religious activity around the world between 2027 and 2062. The reawakening was especially well felt in countries that once possessed large irreligious or atheist populations, seeing a boom in church membership and attendance rate. Many of the changes that took place during the period were incredibly profound, with the unification of nearly all Christian denominations thanks to the efforts of Christian reformists, Oliver Bernard, Hayden Ainsworth, and Masahiko Ishikawa, three of the most notable figures of the Sixth Great Awakening. History Origins in Japan The origins of the Sixth Great Awakening undoubtedly begin with the collapse of the Japanese economy in 2019. In 2019, the Japanese government defaulted on its debt to its foreign lenders, resulting in the bankruptcy of the Japanese economy. The crisis sent shockwaves throughout the globe, affecting nations from one end of the world to the other as the third-largest economy in the world collapsed. Many Japanese citizens blamed the government for its poor handling of the situation in the years prior to the crisis, while others blamed the citizens themselves for their refusal to build up the demographics needed to sustain such a massive economy. The existence of so-called "parasite singles" and the aging population of Japan, resulted in a shrinking workforce, that could not maintain the same national economic output as in the decades before, resulting in the failure of the government to pay back its lenders with funds that shrank every fiscal year. A civil war erupted when it became clear that there would be no easy recovery, and the other financial powers of the world refused to float the Japanese economy with a line of credit. From 2019 to 2023, the Japanese Civil War saw the deaths of more than eight million people, further destroying the Japanese population, and lowering it from 92 million to 84 million inhabitants. In the end, some Japanese Christians came to believe that God had punished their people for their abhorrent ways, for allowing sexual deviance, irreligious beliefs, and materialistic obsessions dominate their society, sparking a desire to change the way the Japanese thought and acted as a people. Spearheading this new movement was Masahiko Ishikawa, a Protestant preacher from the city of Niigata, who saw and believed that the entire affair was an act of god sent to punish his people and their nation for their actions. Thus, Ishikawa took it upon himself to do something about the crisis he had survived, and bring his people back into reconciliation with God and his standards. Ishikawa and his followers traveled throughout Japan, preaching and reaching out to the disillusioned people of the country, who had witnessed the darkness period in Japanese history, and were searching for answers to the sudden collapse of their economy and destruction of their way of life. Within two years of his ministry, Ishikawa had established the Japanese Nakanaori Church in 2025, and had a following of more than 27 million people, all of who saw the church and its teachings as the truth, single-handedly bringing religion and Christianity back to Japan. With years of the Nakanaori Church's formation, it had taken over much of the Japanese government, economy, and society, with Ishikawa the man who would represent the Japanese theocracy as its leader. Attacks on Christianity The spiritual events in Japan did not go unnoticed by the world. Many Christians, especially those in China and South Korea, were astounded by the sudden change in Japanese culture, from a predominately atheist society to a highly religious one, all within the span of five or seven years. The Nakanaori movement had inspired many in China, India, Russia, Europe, and North America, to begin reconciling with God and re-establishing Christian doctrines as cultural norms once again. Before the civil war in Japan, the industrialized world had largely done away with religious movements and teachings. The most notable being Italy's own move to annex Vatican City in 2026, and end special treatment of the Roman Catholic Church after the pope refused to answer calls to prosecute and expel priests accused to child molestation. With the weakening of the world's largest Christian church and denomination, many believed that the end times were near. However, others such as Oliver Bernard, believed that the time of the end was already underway, and the foretold "fall of Babylon the Great" – all religious groups that claimed to represent God and his will, was being fulfilled. The Catholic Church and other Christian groups, saw concerted efforts by many European countries to outright close churches and ban their activities in their countries. The flight of hundreds of thousands of religious Europeans to the United States and Brazil sparked religious movements in those countries, as they too began to fear the attempt of their own governments to outlaw their religious activities at home. Soon, Nakanaori-style "reconciliation movements" were underway. Oliver Bernard, a Baptist pastor from Mississippi, felt that the reason so many Christian organizations were under attack and considered "Babylon the Great" by God, had to do with the misteachings of those churches. The teachings that Hell was a place of torment, that God killed children so that he could have more angels, or that Jesus was in fact God himself, had damned so many Christian groups to destruction as they were targeted by governments from one nation to another. The fear in many nations that a religious movement similar to that in Japan might take over the government, also fueled the drive to destroy as many religious groups as possible. However, in the Americas, the Awakening prospered as Bernard's own movement to reform Christian teachings took place. The Second Reformation Bernard moved to begin rebuilding the Christian Church according to what he and others considered the true teachings of Christ. He worked tirelessly to see to it that Christianity was restored to its rightful place as the world's largest religion, and that it also united all Christians together as it was originally meant to. Notable changes to Christian doctrine included the mention that Hell was in fact a place of eternal destruction, not damnation, where those condemned by God were to be "destroyed forever", in other words, removed from God's memory and condemned to eternal death, not torture. Another change was the inclusion of God's name "Jehovah". For centuries, the name Jehovah had been included in all Christian Bibles, from the Catholic Bible used from the church's formation to the mid-1940s, to Protestant translations of the Bible as recently as the late-1800s. Only in the 1940s and 1950s, did the name disappear from all texts save for a few, leading Bernard to believe that that was one of the reasons God had condemned so many churches to destruction at the hands of secular governments. Bernard thus proclaimed that the use of the name Jehovah was to be used as God's own name. This was accepted by all members of Bernard's church and the remaining churches in the world, who had done their own research and confirmed Bernard's own conclusion. Finally, Bernard affirmed that the Messianic Law of the New Testament was to serve as the basis of Christian morals and ethics, not the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament. It was long accepted that the Mosaic Law was the basis of the Jewish mitzvot, or Jewish law. However, many Christians had long believed that it still applied to themselves, and that it was still to be accepted in its entirety. This belief had long been a source of contention within many churches, as a source of criticism by atheists seeking to undermine Christian beliefs and morals. Such laws like that stating one most stone adulterers or disobedient offspring, led to many to distance themselves from Christianity. Many other changes were introduced by Bernard based on biblical teachings, and saw a greater molding of the Christian beliefs and teachings as a result of his actions. The Awakening had now seen Christianity itself changed and its followers reformed, but disunity still plagued the churches. The series of changes would finally see a united church and an explosion of religious awakening across the globe. Under the watch of several great men, Christianity would soon take to the world stage, and reform many societies and nations as the Awakening entered into its final stages. The Alithian Church The growth of the new reconciliation movements throughout Asia and the Americas saw the formation of hundreds of new churches seeking to be the next Nakanaori Church. However, this competition only sowed disunity within the already weakening ranks of Christianity. By 2035, the Catholic Church had been expelled from Europe, while the Russian Orthodox Church saw its membership decline from 150 million to less than 30 million within just two decades. As the global economic crisis began to wane, many saw little need for religion in their lives, and were leaving religion to the wayside as they moved ahead with their lives. This belief was soon infiltrating Christianity itself, and Bernard and Ishikawa, two of the most outspoken Christians in the world, did all they could to prevent this. One man by the name of Hayden Ainsworth, would respond to the call not to forsake God for riches and fame, and pour all of his resources into bringing the Christian world together and strengthen its beliefs and customs to survive in the world. Ainsworth was a wealthy businessman from Brisbane, Australia, having his hands in the mining industry as well as numerous insurance companies in London and New York. An atheist from childhood, Ainsworth was a well-known secularist in Australia. During his visit to Japan to look for ways to profit from the country's reconstruction efforts, he was introduced to Masahiko Ishikawa, leader of Japan and the Japanese Nakanaori Church. The meeting with Ishikawa had a profound impact on Ainsworth, who converted to Christianity in 2033. When the call went out by Ishikawa and his American counterpart Oliver Bernard, Ainsworth was among the first to respond. However, he noted that the ease with which so many Christians discarded their beliefs had much to due with the disunity within the religion itself. Though Bernard's Second Reformation brought many Christians together in change, it did little to bring them together as a unit. Ainsworth thus sought to do something, and in the name of Christianity, moved to unite all Christians together as a single body of Christ. Ainsworth traveled from Australia, to Japan, to China, to Kenya, to the United States, and to Brazil, to make his case to the largest Christian churches still in existence, and urge them to form a single organized group that would represent Christianity around the world. Though Ainsworth believed that his words had fallen on deaf ears, he was surprised when during a convention of Christian leaders from every denomination of Christianity came together in Galveston, Texas, to discuss the possibility of a single Christian organization. At the fore were Bernard and Ishikawa, who negotiated with the other leaders of the religion. The patriarchs of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches, and members of the Assyrian Church of the East, along with the last Pope of the Catholic Church, agreed to unite and form a single body of churches, unified in teachings, doctrines, and worship. On May 14, 2037, the declaration of the Alithian Church of Mankind, was broadcast on international television. Ainsworth's efforts had been well received, and he work finally rewarded in full. Legacy The Sixth Great Awakening saw the rebirth of Christianity across the globe as a major force once more, no longer as weakened as it had been during the latter 20th century and the early 21st century. The new Alithian Church would play a major role in global politics, with many sincere Alithians becoming politicians and playing a major role in global affairs. Many countries which had long nursed an anti-clerical stance against Christianity, such as the Czech Republic, China, and Vietnam, would become major religious hotspots, and some of the devout countries in the world as a Awakening entered into its latter periods during the 2060s. By the start of the 22nd century, the world's atheist population was less that 1% of the total population, while the new Alithian Church accounted for more than 50-60% of the earth's population by 2100. Category:The Great Awakening Category:Vivaporius' Work